Some patients are unable to take medicines in solid oral dosage forms because they have swallowing difficulties or feeding tubes

If a patient cannot swallow tablets or capsules, then the problem should be discussed with a healthcare professional who will be able to find out whether a suitable liquid product is available. This could be a liquid version of the original medicine or a different medicine that has the same effect, in either case, this will have to be discussed with the prescriber or pharmacist.

Normally, tablets should not be crushed and capsules should not be opened either to make them easier to swallow or to hide them from the patient because this may affect the way that the medicine works.